This week, we’re talking about forgotten novelists, scandalous carriage rides, and Jane Austen with two of our favorite authors. First up, Devoney Looser tells us more about Jane and Maria Porter, the subjects of her nonfiction book Sister Nove

Best Reads of 2022, pt1: Louisa & Emily, Romance Reads, and Old Iron Press

Dec 27th, 2022 59m 24s

In this action-packed episode, we discuss our favorite reads of 2022, YOUR favorite reads of 2022, and interview some very special literary guests. First up - authors Lorraine Tosiello and Jane Cavolina discuss their book, "The Bee and the Fly:

S6, E12: George Eliot and Silas Marner, pt 4

Dec 5th, 2022 1h 2m

This week, we’ve come to the end of our Silas Marner read-along! Voice actress Katie Mosley joins us one last time as we recap chapters 17-22 and discuss all of the Silas Marner adaptations, including Steve Martin’s A Simple Twist of Fate.

S6, E11: George Eliot and Silas Marner, pt 3

Nov 27th, 2022 40m 50s

We’re still banging on about George Eliot and Silas Marner! This week, we recap chapters 13 -16, talk nature and Wordsworth, and are rejoined by voice actress Katie Mosley as the voice of George Eliot.

S6, E10: George Eliot, her entanglements, and Silas Marner, pt 2

Nov 20th, 2022 1h

This week, we continue our discussion on George Eliot, her entanglements, and Silas Marner. The book is getting very Eastenders as we recap chapters 5-12 and are rejoined by voice actress Katie Mosley as the voice of George Eliot to highlight o

S6, E9: George Eliot, her entanglements, and Silas Marner, pt 1

Nov 12th, 2022 52m 24s

For the next few weeks, we’ll be discussing George Eliot, her entanglements, and reading Silas Marner through a fairytale lens. This week, we recap chapters 1-4, and are rejoined by voice actress Katie Mosley as the voice of George Eliot to hig

B@D Mixtape #3: Sense of Place

Nov 4th, 2022 32m 27s

This week we’ve specially selected pieces with a strong sense of place by Zitkala Sa, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Emily Lawless, and George Eliot for another B@D Mixtape. Come with us as we explore an English country garden, the Yankton Reservation, a

B@D MIxtape #2: A Haunted House?

Oct 28th, 2022 36m 59s

This week, we’ve curated a selection of haunting short stories and poems by Virginia Woolf, Amy Levy, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and Emily Dickinson, for another B@D Mixtape - part podcast, part audiobook.

S6, E8: The Haunting Tales of Charlotte Riddell with Dr. Melissa Edmundson

Oct 21st, 2022 47m 24s

This week, spooky story specialist Dr. Melissa Edmundson talks to us about her Broadview edition of The Uninhabited House by Charlotte Riddell and helps us understand why the Victorians were so obsessed with ghost stories. We also discuss “Busi

S6, E7: Race, Romance, and Empire in the short works of Louisa May Alcott and Dinah Craik

Jun 29th, 2022 52m 41s

This week, we are discussing My Contraband by Louisa May Alcott and The Half-Caste by Dinah Craik. These stories may seem different on the surface, but share quite a few similarities. We talk about how these authors handle interracial relations

S6, E6: Otherness and Horror in Wuthering Heights w/Dr. Lydia Craig

Jun 20th, 2022 1h 10m

This week is all about the beloved/hated novel, Wuthering Heights! We sat down with Dr. Lydia Craig to discuss Tylney Hall (a possible source text and inspiration for WH) and reading Heathcliff as a person of color. We also talk adaptations, Wu

S6, E5: Nella Larsen's Passing

Jun 12th, 2022 1h 12m

FINALLY. This week, we’re talking about Passing by Nella Larsen. We also compare and contrast it to the 2021 film adaptation by Rebecca Hall and the short story Passing by Langston Hughes. Spoilers ahead.

S6, E4: The Medicine, Murder, and Afrofuturism in Of One Blood w/Dr. Eurie Dahn & Dr. Brian Sweeney

May 30th, 2022 1h 18m

This week is all about Pauline Hopkins! Hopkins was an author, activist, and editor, who served as the driving force behind The Colored American magazine and her serialized novel, Of One Blood, has been described at Black Panther meets Indiana

S6, E3: Harriet Jacobs and Frances Harper w/Dr. Koritha Mitchell

May 23rd, 2022 1h 14m

This week, we’re continuing our conversation about Harriet Beecher Stowe and performative activism. And we are joined by Dr. Koritha Mitchell to discuss her upcoming edition of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, as well as the connections b

S6, E2: Abolitionist literature and Anti-Slavery Bazaars with Felicia Gabriele

May 15th, 2022 1h 21m

This week, we’re talking about the business of abolitionist literature. We start by discussing the author and activist Lydia Maria Child and her short story The Quadroons. Then, PhD candidate Felicia Gabriele joins us to discuss her Rambling ar

S6, E1: Harriet Beeecher Stowe’s Pink & White Tyranny!

May 8th, 2022 1h 1m

We’re baaack! This week, we’re going on a micro-mini-roadtrip to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s House in Cincinnati and talking about one of one of her most baffling books - Pink & White Tyranny (great band name, btw). We can’t tell if this novel is a

B@D Mixtape #1: Poems About Authors

Apr 30th, 2022 30m 57s

Hey, hey, we’re back with a new format! This is the first Bonnets at Dawn Mixtape, which is part audiobook and part podcast. In honor of National Poetry Month, we have asked some excellent voice actors to read poems about authors. Listen to hea

S5, Bonus: Best Reads of 2021, aka The Holiday Holiday Special

Dec 28th, 2021 1h 14m

This week, Dr. Arielle Zibrak and Dr. Sarah Mesle join us to discuss our love of Kate Winslet, The Holiday, the pleasures of knitwear, and our favorite reads of 2021. We also talk about romcoms, Austen and Ephron, comfort reading, and read jus

S5.3, E5: Guilty Pleasures and Critical Bonnet Studies with Dr. Arielle Zibrak

Dec 13th, 2021 1h 6m

We’re wrapping up our mini-series on Sex, Scandal, and Social Climbers with Dr. Arielle Zibrak, who is here to discuss the role of bonnets in 19th century literature, bodice rippers, and guilty pleasures. We also carry on our discussion about r

S5.3, E4: Scandal and Coffee and Mary Robinson with Clio O’Sullivan

Dec 5th, 2021 33m 14s

This week, we’re talking ghosts, gossip, and gambling with Clio O’Sullivan from Chawton House Library! We discuss the scandalous actress and author Mary Robinson and the connection she shares with Scottish botanical illustrator Elizabeth Blackw

S5.3, E3: Elizabeth Montagu and Bluestocking Drama w/Dr. Jack Orchard & Dr. Anna Louise Senkiw

Nov 29th, 2021 58m 33s

This week, we are talking to Dr. Jack Orchard and Dr. Anna Louise Senkiw, who are currently working on digitizing the letters of Elizabeth Montagu, noted literary influencer and Queen of the Bluestockings. We also discuss the poet Ann Yearsley,

S5.3, E2: Elizabeth Barrett Browning with Dr. Fiona Sampson

Nov 20th, 2021 1h 8m

This week, we’re welcoming Dr. Fiona Sampson back to the show to discuss her new book entitled Two-Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. We also get into specifics regarding EBB’s family money, illness, legacy, and what should be

S5.3, E1: Upstarts, Social Climbers, and Alicia LeFanu’s Fashionable Connections w/Dr. Lydia Craig

Nov 12th, 2021 1h 7m

We’re kicking off our mini-season on Sex, Scandal, and Money with an episode about social climbers, upstarts, and Jamaican heirs in Regency England. We cover a lot in this one including Sanditon’s Miss Lambe, Leigh Hunt’s Black ancestry, Charle

S5, Bonus: The Letters of Pride and Prejudice and Little Women with Barbara Heller

Nov 6th, 2021 57m 28s

This week, we’re bringing together Dr. Eleanor Rust and curator Barabara Heller for an in depth discussion about the process behind creating the letters for the Pride and Prejudice and Little Women Letters editions for Chronicle Books. We also

S5, Bonus: B@D Literary Ghost Tour

Oct 29th, 2021 46m 57s

We’re back with an expanded version of our 2020 B@D Live Literary Ghost Tour! This week, we’re talking about spooky books, the ghost of Charles Dickens, and whether or not Anne Brontë is haunting a certain staircase in New York.